Glimpses
by Caliente
Summary: [EDITED 09/30/2012] one-shot NextGen fic –– a brief look at the evolution of Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy's relationship through their years at Hogwarts—because with the two of them and Albus Potter in Ravenclaw, it just isn't going to be smooth sailing –– Rose/Scorpius with minor Albus/OC, Scorpius/OC, Rose/OC; WARNING: some mostly mild swearing


**Author's Note: **This has been sitting on my harddrive forever, so I finally figured I'd suck it up and post it. I think this was the first thing I ever wrote for this couple ages back. I've edited it over and over, though it's never been beta'd, so hopefully it's not total rubbish. Anyway, I realize this is probably the millionth "glimpses through the years" fic around but you can never have too much of a good thing, right? Think that's about it from my end. Cheers all.  
**AN2:** So apparently British people don't _do_ graduation—my bad. So the end bit is somewhat altered as a result but nothing _too_ drastic.**  
Disclaimer: **Characters mentioned are used without permission and are trademarks of J.K. Rowling and Warner Bros. Studios. I do not own them and am simply borrowing for my purposes. Please don't sue!

**Glimpses  
**by Bether

**first year.**

Nobody had been surprised when Rose Weasley was sorted into the Ravenclaw house. She was as bright as her mother and as stubborn as her father. Determined not to live her life in the shadow of her large family, she'd decided long before boarding the Hogwarts Express that she would not be in Gryffindor. From there, it had been a simple process of elimination.

Slytherin would have peeved her family, she knew, but that alone wasn't enough to knock it off the list. In the end, it was her lack of cunning and the fact that she was a completely rubbish liar that spurned her from the snake house. Hufflepuff was easier to cross off. Simply told, she knew the amount of teasing she would have to endure from her family if that was her house. It would be foolish to give them such an easy and permanent excuse.

Ravenclaw it was. The Sorting Hat barely had to touch her head before it agreed. The cleverness of her thinking was all it took to sway the magical singing hat.

On the other hand, nearly everyone had been shocked with Albus Severus Potter was sorted into Ravenclaw. It wasn't that he wasn't clever—he was. And his aptitude for magic came almost straight from his father. But with his older brother in Gryffindor, both of his parents and all of his grandparents as honored graduates, everyone had expected the Potter legacy to continue in the lion's den.

The fact that James was a Gryffindor was the precise reason that Al didn't want to be in that house. He loved his brother (mostly grudgingly) but James was something of a bully to Al. His silent chant of,_ Not Gryffindor, not Gryffindor, not Gryffindor_, made the Sorting Hat's decision rather easy. (It still remembered his father's sorting, after all.) The fact that his cousin and best friend, Rose, was sorted into the same house was just an added bonus.

There wasn't much comment when Scorpius Malfoy was sorted into Ravenclaw. His parents had made it clear that they were more interested in him assisting in the resurrection of the so-called family name than plebeian things like house sorting. Though he figured they'd be relieved he was in neither Hufflepuff nor Gryffindor—for vastly different reasons, of course.

Truthfully, Scorpius wasn't surprised, either. He didn't have the constitution to be a Slytherin, the bravery for Gryffindor or the good heart of a Hufflepuff. Ravenclaw was all that was left. It probably didn't hurt that he'd found his father's library more enticing than the Slytherin spawn his parents had tried to make his friends, either, though his self-deprecating attitude hardly considered that factor.

Rose elbowed Al pointedly when Malfoy was sorted into their house. "My dad told me to stay away from him," she whispered, brown eyes wide. Then she smirked. "Maybe we should make friends with him instead."

"Rose," Al chided. "You can't make friends with someone to anger your parents."

"Not anger!" she objected. "Just… rile." She nudged her cousin. "Things are always so much more interesting when there's a little drama in the Weasley house."

He shook his head but didn't comment further. A determined Rose was near-impossible to deter.

She stood up and made for the other end of the table where Scorpius was starting to tuck in. "Oi," she called with a smile and a wave. "I'm Rose Weasley." She offered her hand to him.

Giving her a funny look, he shook her hand once and released it. "Okay," he said, obviously a bit bewildered. "Scorpius Malfoy."

Despite his lukewarm reply, she pushed on. "Want to come eat with us?" Rose offered, gesturing toward where Al was pointedly ignoring her.

There was a pause where he tried to discern if she was sincere or not. His father had warned him that the Weasley and Potter children might try to exact some sort of retribution against him due to his parentage—he just hadn't thought they'd do it on their first night! "Um, no, that's all right," Scorpius replied, choosing caution over politeness. "I'm fine here."

Rose, whose temper was not unlike her father's, was decidedly put out. "Hmmph!" Hands on her hips, she was like a tiny, red-haired version of her mother. "My father was right about you," she declared, wagging a finger at him. "Rude little ferret spawn!" Then she spun around and stalked back to where Albus was sitting, fuming all the way.

Pausing in his shoveling of food into mouth, Al patted her on the shoulder. "Come on, hurry up and eat. When we're done, we can visit Hagrid and Uncle Neville."

That thought cheered Rose up considerably, though she continued to mumble about blond gits who were bloody unfriendly wankers periodically.

…

**second year.**

Quidditch tryouts were generally only for third years and up. That's why, when Scorpius Malfoy was announced as the new Ravenclaw seeker, Rose Weasley led the charge against him. She marched up to the sixth year captain and poked him sharply in the chest. "Oi, Musgrave, what're you playing at?"

The large blond boy, who was over a head taller than Rose and twice as wide, blinked down at her. "Can I help you, Weasley?" he asked in a tone that implied he'd rather she buggered off than continue the conversation.

"What did he do?" she spat, raising herself to her full height. "Get his daddy to buy him a spot on the team? The rest of us—" now she gestured toward where Al and several other first and second years were sitting—"weren't allowed to try out but somehow _Scorpius Malfoy _becomes the new seeker?"

Now Ralph Musgrave laughed, something that only served to enrage Rose further. "Look, Professor Flitwick called me into his office and suggested Scorpius for the position when he learned our try-outs had been for naught."

Rose sneered. "And why did he do _that?_"

"Because Madame Hooch told him about the incident during flying class last year," a new voice spoke up—Scorpius Malfoy himself.

The _incident _he was referring to involved her falling off her broom while goofing around with Albus. (She had, sadly, inherited her mother's flying skills—which was to say none.) It was Scorpius that caught her by the robes, just above the ground. After, she'd grudgingly thanked him after prodding from her cousin and sworn off brooms for life.

Her ears burned bright red at the humiliating memory and, "Oh," was all Rose could come up with. She looked up at Musgrave again. "Well, it's still not fair." Then she stalked over Al and plopped down beside him, seething.

Al turned the page of the book he was reading. "Told you not to push it," he said with a sigh, eyes never leaving the page.

Rose blushed more furiously. "Shut up, Al."

…

**third year.**

Rose Weasley, Karen Stafford and James Potter all raced down to the Quidditch pitch at the end of the Ravenclaw/Slytherin match. "Great job, Al!" Rose cried, throwing her arms around him.

James grinned proudly at his younger brother. "You were bloody brilliant, mate," he said, ruffling his hair. (Not that it made much of a difference—he followed his father and grandfather in having unruly hair.) "Not that it'll make much difference when you face my house, of course."

Pushing his brother away, he grinned. "You are so full of shite, James."

"Care to put your Quaffle where your mouth is?" the Gryffindor seeker asked, eyes bright behind his glasses.

Albus snorted. "You are a nutter," he commented with a long suffering sigh. There was a grin on his face, though, as the boys had bonded over their love of the game when Al was named the newest chaser on the Ravenclaw team.

James waved him off before sauntering over to his housemates.

It was then that Karen, a blonde Muggle-born member of their house who Rose had become friendlier with that year, stepped forward. "Yours was an impressive display," she complimented diplomatically.

Furrowing his brows, Al cast a quick glance at Rose before replying. "Er, thank you, Karen."

Smothering a laugh, Rose threaded her arm through Karen's and prepared to be off. Her bright eyes darkened perceptibly when Scorpius Malfoy came up beside Al to say something to his teammate and she stalled taking leave. Al listened intently, shooting Rose a look that clearly told her to be nice.

Pursing her lips, she finally acquiesced just before the other boy left. "You played well today, Malfoy," she offered quickly.

He paused, visibly surprised. "Thank you, Rose," he said, bowing his head slightly before heading off.

Shaking her head, she tugged on Karen's arm and they headed off. The girl glanced back at Scorpius then looked at Rose. "He's a bit odd, isn't he?"

Rose laughed all the way back to their common room.

…

**fourth year.**

"I can't believe it!" Rose cried, throwing herself onto a couch in the common room.

Albus didn't look up from where he was playing chess with Victor Carmichael, used to her antics by then. When she huffed loudly enough, he threw her a bone. "What happened now?"

Sitting up, she scowled at the lack of attention her best friend was paying her. "I'm second in Defense Against the Dark Arts," she said quietly. "I asked Professor Flitwick—I wanted to see if I was on track for my prefect badge. I'm first in all my classes _except _D-A-D-A."

"Okay, so?" Al prompted, taking Vic's bishop violently (as was the way with Wizard chess).

"So?" Rose repeated. "_So? _So, I'm never second! I'm the smartest witch in our class! I can't be second!" She threw herself down against the couch again, moaning. "This is horrible."

Al rolled his eyes and mouthed a, "Be right back," to Vic. Standing, he crossed to Rose and pat her on the back. "First of all, this is not that big of a deal. You're still the smartest witch in our class, regardless of your standing in _one_class. Secondly, you could always study harder." Here, Rose glared at him. "Or you could ask the student ahead of you for help."

Now Rose avoided his gaze.

"What?" Al asked.

She mumbled something into a cushion.

Nudging her, he frowned. "What is it, Rose?" he pressed.

"It's Scorpius," she mumbled, pouting.

Al rolled his eyes. (Of _course_ it was. And here he'd thought she'd finally let go of those prejudices she'd made in her younger years.) "What _about _him?"

She threw her hands up in defeat and sighed. "He's the top of our Defense Against the Dark Arts class!" she all but wailed. "I _can't _ask him for help."

That was about all Al could take. "Then settle for second best," he said with a shrug. "I'm going to finish my game now. If you want to whine more, find Karen or Ren or Roxanne."

"You suck, Albus Severus," she grumbled, sitting up again and crossing her arms.

Al's smile was lopsided. "Yeah, but who else would put up with you, cuz?"

That was when Rose decided that the Potter family was not allowed to go on holiday to America again. What kind of word was 'cuz'? _Honestly._

_…_

**fifth year.**

It took a lot for Rose Weasley to admit she needed help. It took even more for her to do it with someone she disliked so incredibly. But desperate times and all that. Unfortunately, his opening greeting saw that he didn't appreciate just what a sacrifice it was for her to come to him. "So you've finally swallowed your pride and come to ask me for help?"

She glared at the side of Scorpius Malfoy's head, crossing her arms defensively. "Hmmph, I see your oversized pride has finally grown in."

Scorpius's pale eyes flicked up to meet her darker ones. "You may be clever," he drawled, "but your delivery leaves something to be desired."

"Argh!" Rose cried, stamping her foot. Her famous Weasley temper was coming out, despite her attempts to quash it with her logical side. "You-you're infuriating."

He smirked. "Only to you, Weasley."

Taking a deep breath, she forced her anger down. "Yeah, yeah." Rose sighed. "Malfoy, would you _please _help me study for the Defense Against the Dark Arts O.W.L.s?"

For some reason, it was hard not to squirm under his gaze. That only served to irritate her further. "What do I get out of it?" he asked casually.

"The pleasure of my company," she offered with a sickeningly sweet smile.

He gave her a once over, then shook his head. "Pass."

Rose rolled her eyes, ignoring the injury to her pride as best she could. "That was sarcasm, Malfoy," she pointed out condescendingly. He returned her eye roll but said nothing. The urge to squirm grew again. "Fine, what do you want?" she asked.

There was a bit of a pause as he mulled it over. "Introduce me to Ren Davies," Scorpius answered finally.

She blinked. Then she blinked again. "That's it?" Her tone was incredulous, as was her expression.

He nodded. "That's it."

"But you're popular, practically a shoo-in for Quidditch captain next year according to Al, and smart—I mean, why else would I ask you to help me?" Rose admitted grudgingly, ignoring his grin. "—and, well, you're good-looking." His smile was growing dangerously close to wicked grin status, so she hastily added: "for an albino." That made Scorpius scowl. "Why would you want me to introduce you? You don't need the help."

Shrugging, he looked back at his books. "That's none of your business," he replied stiffly. "Those are my terms. Do you accept them?"

Rose considered for a moment, swallowed her pride again, and nodded. "Yes, I do. You help me and I'll set you up with Ren next Hogsmade trip." Suppressing a sigh, she rubbed the bridge of her nose. "When do we start?"

"Thursdays after Quidditch practice, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom," Scorpius said easily.

"Classroom?" she repeated skeptically.

He shrugged. "We're both prefects," he pointed out. "I doubt we'll get in trouble for studying."

It was her inclination to argue with anything he said but she curbed the impulse and found his logic sound. Besides, despite Al's practical nature, they did have a habit for finding themselves on the other side of the law. As far as rule breaking went, this was practically benign. "Fair enough. See you Thursday."

"See you then," Scorpius agreed.

…

**sixth year.**

"Lazlo Zabini? _Really?_" Albus shook his head at his best friend. "I thought you had better taste than that prat, Rose."

Rose made a face at him. "Said the boy who snogged _my _friend!" she shot back. "Don't think I didn't hear about you and Karen on the Quidditch pitch last month."

Al's cheeks colored and he scowled. "Damn James and his big fat mouth." Rose gave him a Look letting him know that reply wasn't going to cut it and he ducked his head. "She really came into her own over the summer," he mumbled. "And, anyway, we're not talking about _me._"

"Agreed," Scorpius piped up from where he was sitting nearby. "My dad is good friends with Lazlo's dad and I hear he's busy 'sowing his wild oats'—whatever that is."

"That's _exactly _what Roger Davies said about you when you started dating his daughter!" Rose retorted. Of course, that had been prior to Ren breaking up with Scorpius over summer hols but still. (It would've been a low blow if they weren't still on amicable terms; he'd had been rather forgiving—or maybe just perceptive enough to recognize her flighty nature.)

Al and Scorpius exchanged a look, then the former put a hand on his cousin's arm. "Rose, he's not the commitment type. Can't you see—?"

Now Rose rolled her eyes, tugging her arm from his hold. "Honestly," she said, hands on hips, "you two act like I've accepted an offer of marriage or something from the boy. All we're doing is going to Hogsmade together—relax. It's only a date; I'm not in the market for a serious boyfriend, anyway." She grinned at both boys, reaching to pinch their cheeks. "You two are so cute when you're overprotective."

Scorpius swatted her hand away, returning his attention to the Potions essay that was due the next day. "You owe me a knut, Potter," he said as an afterthought.

Now Rose's dark eyes were flashing dangerously. "You _bet _on me?" she asked in a slow tone.

Both boys' eyes widened perceptibly and began moving away from the irate red head. "If it's any consolation," Albus offered, hands up in an innocent gesture, "we hexed Flint for what he said about this development…"

It wasn't but, lucky for Al and Scorpius, most of her rage was taken out on revenge against the Slytherin seventh year once she learned just what he'd done to earn the hex. The two Ravenclaw boys were just glad to escape with the majority of their pride intact.

…

**seventh year.**

Rose threw down her book and get out an aggravated growl. "That's it, that's _it! _These damn N.E.W.T.s are trying to drive me insane!" She rubbed her eyes and slouched into her chair. "And I think they're succeeding."

Al, who was sitting on a loveseat nearby with his girlfriend of over a year, Karen, gave her hand a comforting pat. "Don't worry," he said easily. "They're taking us all with you."

"Yeah," Ren agreed from the other side of Karen with a sigh. "We'll all have brilliant company in St. Mungo's."

Standing up and stretching, Rose began collecting her books and parchment. "I should probably get back to the Head's dorm before I really am committed," she told the others. "Same time tomorrow?"

Karen nodded, smiling at her friend. "Scorpius said he'd bring snacks, too," she said with thinly veiled excitement.

Absentmindedly, Rose frowned. Where was Scorpius, anyway? Al had muttered some excuse but she couldn't recall what he'd said now. She had a fleeting thought that he had snuck out to meet some chit but that thought was quickly quashed, if only to maintain what little sanity she still had. "He only knows that trick because I showed him," she bragged, rejoining the conversation with a smirk. "See you all tomorrow."

Her housemates called various good-byes as she headed out of the tower. She yawned as she wandered down the steps at a lazy pace, hitching her bag higher onto her shoulder. Another yawn had her colliding with a wall.

Wait. A wall that caught her with a grunt?

Looking up, she saw Scorpius peering down at her with a mixture of concern and amusement. "Better watch where you're going, Rose," he teased, helping her straighten again before releasing her. (She felt oddly colder when he did; must've been a draft.) "Next time you might hit someone with worse reflexes."

"Lucky I ran into the Ravenclaw seeker then, isn't it?" she tossed back with a grin, shrugging off all strange feelings. "Speaking of—where have you been hiding yourself? Don't you know we have N.E.W.T.s to be studying for?"

He gave a dramatic gasp complete with over the top gesticulation. "You _don't _say! Well, damn, wish I'd known sooner."

Rose socked him in the shoulder none too gently. "I'm so pleased you're finally learning the finer points of sarcasm," she commented dryly, "but I never would've spent so much time teaching you if I'd known you'd use it against me."

Holding his hands up in surrender, Scorpius smiled genuinely. "I was down in the dungeons tutoring Callie Warrington in Potions."

For some reason, she felt like all the wind had been knocked out of her. "Oh." She forced a smile, though it was more of a quirk of her mouth, really. "What'd you get from her for that?"

Scorpius shrugged. "Nothing. Professor Hobskins asked me to, since I've got such an _aptitude _for it."

_And because you like her_, was Rose's irrational thought, not that she'd admit that. Or say it aloud. Instead, her eyes narrowed dangerously. "Figures. You never could deny a compliment to your vanity." There was something decidedly nasty in her tone, which took away from the teasing nature of their conversation.

Unamused, he frowned at her. "What the hell is that supposed to mean, Rose?"

"Figure it out yourself," she shot back, voice raising just a hair. "I can't stand to be in this stairwell another moment—your ego is suffocating me!" Then she turned and raced off, ignoring the calls echoing after her.

Furious tears raced down her cheeks and she had no idea why. Her dad had always claimed her mum had been nutters as a teen but never before had Rose felt so completely out of control of her person. If this was growing up, she wanted no part of it. She didn't understand why she felt this way or what it meant. Why was she overreacting so totally and completely? Scorpius was her _friend! _And Callie might be slag but what did that matter? He could shag whoever he wanted to.

No, none of this made any sense.

It wasn't until she was back in the Head's common room, bawling her eyes out that she realized the strange, sad truth of it all: she, Rose Weasley, fancied Scorpius Malfoy.

"Fuck."

…

**and one for the road…**

Despite Al's questions and prodding (especially after he and Karen broke up), Rose continued to make excuses about why she was so scarce their last few months at Hogwarts. She claimed Head duties and studying—anything to avoid the Ravenclaw tower. Anything to avoid Scorpius.

She knew she should apologize—it wasn't his fault she'd gone off her rocker and had a minor meltdown—but her pride and humiliation was just great enough to keep that from happening. He didn't seem too keen on seeing her, either, though, so she figured it was mutually beneficial.

Soon enough, her time at Hogwarts came to a quiet, if anticlimactic, close.

To celebrate their achievement of matriculation, the Seventh Years took over a host of compartments (even spilling out into the halls) on their final Hogwarts Express ride. It was a lovely idea and all except she was stuck with her rather duller housemates as part of her continued Scorpius avoidance. (Because avoiding him also meant avoiding the rest of their mutual friends.)

Rose put up with them for as long as she was able, and then she made her quiet escape. Ducking her classmates and family like a pro, she took refuge in an empty compartment. She knew she ought to be spending her time saying farewell and the like but it wasn't as if the wizard community was so large that she'd really lose touch with those she cared about.

Feeling more exhausted than she remembered, Rose curled into a seat and gazed out as the countryside raced past. The window was warm from the sunlight streaming through and she sighed contently, closing her eyes against the glare. It was strange to think she might never ride this train again, strange to realize she would never again be a Hogwarts student.

Some time passed (she may have even dozed briefly) before the click of the compartment door forced her to open her eyes again. Hovering by the entrance was none other than Scorpius Malfoy.

Rose immediately sat up straight, ignoring the way her stomach dropped. "Hi," she said quietly, looking down at her hands. (It weighed too much otherwise.)

Sitting across from her, Scorpius didn't reply at first. He glanced at her, then looked away. He repeated the process a few times. Finally, he settled for looking somewhere over her right shoulder. "You should have never been nice to me at all," he commented casually, as if they were discussing the weather.

"What?" Rose spluttered, too surprised to remember to be mortified. She looked at him as if he'd grown a second head.

Scorpius gave her the famously condescending Malfoy look. "If you'd never been nice," he explained slowly, as if she were a particularly thick child, "then I wouldn't have missed you when you turned completely nutters on me."

Temper rising, Rose glared ferociously at him. "I did not turn nutters on you," she hissed angrily. (Never mind that she actually thought the same thing.) "And you-you have no idea what you're talking about!"

"Then enlighten me, please," he retorted, arms crossed. "I think you owe me that much."

Rose felt herself deflate. "I-I can't," she stuttered, looking away from his icy gaze. She wanted to say more—to apologize—but the words simply would not come.

Jaw clenched, Scorpius shook his head. "That's not good enough, Rose. You may not be a Gryffindor but I'm not going to let you take the cowardly way out. You're better than that."

"I'm sorry," she whispered to her lap.

There was a long pause before he replied. "Fine. Consider this friendship dissolved." He started to rise but Rose latched onto his wrist. He growled in frustration. "Rose—"

She cut him off by scooting to the edge of her seat and placing a finger to his lips. Leaning forward, she moved her hand to cup his cheek and gave him a soft kiss on the lips. It was warm and sweet and made her stomach flutter in a way it never had before.

When she pulled away, there were tears in her eyes. "Now do you understand?"

"No," Scorpius said, scooting out of her reach. He began to pace furiously across the length of the compartment, running an agitated hand through his spiky blond hair. "You-you can't just…" Suddenly he stopped and faced her, gesturing wildly between them. "That doesn't fix this."

Rose nodded solemnly. "I know." She should've never done it. She should've let him walk away, friendship be damned. But if she was going to lose him anyway, her gut told her to just go for it. It would be too ironic otherwise. And that was the rub, wasn't it? Now she just wanted to crawl in a hole and hide until the whole thing was forgotten.

He was pacing again, brows furrowed. "Did Albus tell you? I told him that in confidence!" He began to slow, fixing her with a serious look. "You can't manipulate people however you please, Rose. You can't kiss me when you know it means more to me than you."

"What are you on about?" she asked incredulously. "I was trying to—!" Well, hell, it wasn't like she was going to escape this with her dignity intact. "I _fancy_ you, you prat! Why do you think I reacted like that when I found out you were tutoring Callie? Why do you think I couldn't muster up an apology? I was _embarrassed! _I knew you wouldn't feel the same. I knew it would ruin our friendship. And look at that—it did!" Rose wiped her eyes and tried to pull forth all her remaining stubbornness. "Ugh! I should have never—"

It was right about then that Scorpius cut her off with another kiss. This one was hot and urgent and caught her completely off guard. When he pulled away, she blinked up at him in surprise. "I've fancied you ever since the first time I saw you angry." He smiled; it was just a little shy and completely lovely. "You're beautiful when you're angry."

Rose's cheeks were warm with flush, but she shot him a dubious expression. "Then why did you ask me to set you up with Ren?"

"Well, I could hardly expect you to want to date me when you were so keen on hating me, could I?" he pointed out. "So I put those thoughts out of my mind."

Fair enough. "But what about when we became friends?" she pressed.

Scorpius had the grace to look somewhat abashed. "Would you believe I didn't want to ruin our friendship, either?"

Now Rose laughed. It felt like she hadn't smiled—_really _smiled—in a stupidly long time. It felt lovely. "We really are quite the pair, aren't we?"

He took her hand in his and gave it a kiss. "Yes, we are." It was clear he meant more than a simple agreement. (And if Rose hadn't been red-faced before, she certainly was now.)

Needless to say, when Rose Weasley and Scorpius Malfoy exited onto Platform 9¾ hand-in-hand, more than one parent blanched. Albus, however, grinned proudly at his friends—and Harry thanked Ginny for waiting to give him a daughter.


End file.
